Flames
by Schmoo11d9
Summary: Her parents are gone... Her whole life wasted away in a putrid orphanage... She would do anything to gain freedom, and finally she takes her chance. A young girl escapes from what she's hated her whole life only dive into a pool of hope, what will happen?
1. The past

_**Chapter one **_

_Lucie stood rigid; her eyes grew wide with fear. People yelling, screaming, running, what was she supposed to do? She saw men in bright yellow coats sprinting into her home, smoke was billowing out from every angle, a flash of bright orange lashed out at the 5 year old. Lucie couldn't understand what was going on until she hit the ground with a thud and came to her senses. She un-tangled herself from the man on top of her that had saved her from the fire, and pushed her way through the crowd to her home. _

"_Mommy!" Lucie yelled as she came closer and closer the house. _

"_Mommy, Daddy!!" She screamed as loud as she could. Her lungs were choked with smoke and she could feel the heat of the flames licking at her tiny body. She ran into the burning house in a frantic search for her parents. She heard a shout from somewhere in the crowd, but kept on going. _

"_The girl! The girl! Sir, a little girl just ran into the house you have to help her!" a middle aged woman's voice rang in the ears of a fire-fighter. He looked around at his colleagues, then without a fear in the world dashed into the house that was now threatening to collapse. _

_Lucie couldn't see a thing and she had to struggle for every small breath she took, but her heart moved her onward; she wouldn't let her parents die. She saw a piece of red amongst the smoke, not fire, but a piece of fabric. Her tiny feet thudded against the weak floor as she ran towards it. Lucie knew exactly what is was, her mother's favorite ribbon, she had worn it everywhere, she had been wearing to today… _

"_MOMMY!!" Lucie screeched at the top of her lungs, she had to be close! She snatched the ribbon off the floor and looked around her, she couldn't tell up from down, left from right, her head was light, she was getting dizzy… _

"_Girl! Girl! Wake up, wake up! Are you alright!" A large, muscular man that was covered in ash was yelling at Lucie. He sat her upright and smacked is huge hand onto her small back. She coughed, and hacked, and gagged, and took large gasping breaths. _

"_Where am I?" Lucie whimpered. _

"_You're at an orphanage sweetie, are you alright?" a pudgy woman said to her kindly. _

"_Where are mommy and daddy?" Lucie asked them with a hopeful heart, the two adults looked at each other with sad looks in their eyes. _

"_Where are mommy and daddy!!" Lucie demanded while pounding her fist on the floor. _

"_Sweetie, I'm afraid they're, well, they're gone." The woman told her. _

"_Gone? Gone! But… when are they coming back?!" Lucie questioned them with sharp eyes and a tone in her voice. _

"_Oh honey, they're not coming back, they can't. I'm so sorry" The woman said, laying a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. _

"_No, No! They said they would always be here, they have to come back!" Lucie yelped, she shoved the hand off of her shoulder and sprinted out the door. She felt two large arms scoop her up off the road and a voice trying to calm her. But she needed to find her parents, Lucie kicked and screamed and struggled, but it was no use. The man carried her back the orphanage and set her down in a big chair, and then the lady approached her with sorrowful eyes. _

"_I'm sorry about your parents, but what's done is done. You'll have to stay here from now on." The woman said, then took the man and they both left the room. Lucie stared at the ribbon still clutched her tight little fist, and watched as each of the tears streaming down her face managed to miss the ribbon by only a hair. _

"_Mommy… Daddy…" She whimpered to herself. _

* * *

Lucie, now 14, stared at the same ribbon wrapped around her wrist, and even now, the single fat tear that fell from her cheek, managed to fall just next to it.


	2. My only friend

Chapter 2

Lucie slapped her hand to her face and smeared her tears away. _UGH! This is stupid. I have a reputation, Lucille Grace Quinlan, does __**not **__cry. _Lucie thought to herself in anger. _It was nine years ago! Just get over it! … But how can I, there hasn't been a more horrible day in my life than the day I got stuck in this putrid orphanage. _She scowled in disgust. She couldn't stand this place! Small, cramped, dirty, separated from her only friend, surrounded by bratty girls, and then of course, there was the Head Mistress. Mistress Vandecrot, the most vile, terrible, despicable person Lucie had ever crossed paths with.

She scowled once more at the call for "lunch" and shoved herself up from the corner she took to occupying every day. The tiny bit of food they got each day could hardly even be called food, they claimed it was oatmeal, but Lucie thought otherwise. The only thing that she could look forward to during the day was sneaking off during lunch to talk to her best friend.

They both clambered under a small table in the back of the lunch-room, which for some reason had a table cloth on it. They had used it as a cover from the Mistress's sharp eyes since they were little. For a few years now they knew they needed to find a new place to hide, but they had just never gotten to it, but they knew it needed to be soon.

Lucie giggled as she watched him squeeze himself into an extremely cramped position. In the way of looks Lucie and Isidore were completely opposite. Other than being different genders, Isidore was 6'7", visibly muscular, had sprite green eyes, a hard face, and shaggy black hair. Where Lucie was only 4'9", tiny, had large dark brown eyes, extremely long light brown hair, and the face of a nine year old, covered in freckles.

"Is, we can't keep doing this if you're gonna keep growin', sheesh!" Lucie told him, while still in a fit of giggles. Isidore sighed and just gave her a look. He really hated it under there, but Lucie was practically his little sister and he couldn't stand not being with her for a day. So if this is what it took, than that was the way it was.

Lucie and Isidore had first met when she was six, (he was seven) after her first whole year being at the orphanage.

_Isidore kicked and hollered at the police officers with all his might. _

"_They were my parents, I swear! Please take me back!" He screamed. Did his parents forget him or something, why hadn't they claimed him? He thought they really were proud of him, they trusted him to go out into the streets of New York and provide for the family. Or at least that's what he thought when they sent him out to become a newsie. Isidore had just had a hard time selling one day and couldn't get home before dark so he fell asleep in an alley way. The next morning these police officers just dragged him out and asked him about his family. Isidore made them take him to his house, but… his parents said they had never seen him before. _

_Isidore had always tried to help his parents and be great. Sure he ended up breaking things a lot, and was always loud and… but why?! He thought his parents really loved him and were proud. Not a disgrace. _

"_Son, calm down. This'll be a lot easier if you just keep still!" one of the officers told him. Isidore gave up then, he felt horrible. The officers led him to a large grey building encased in ivy. _

"_We got another stray one for ya miss. We were going to take him to the refuge but he claims he has a family so we brought him here in case they come looking." One of them told a large woman behind the desk. _

"_Alright then, let's get him in the main room and introduce him to the others." She said while clutching him arm and tugging him into another room. _

"_Children, this is… uhh… oh! This is Isidore, play nice now!" She said right before turning on a heel and scuttling back to her desk. No one had paid attention to her, so he merely stood there, looking gloomily at the old floor. When he finally looked up, another woman was in the room snapping at some of the other kids. She was tall and bony, he perfectly grey hair was pulled into a tight bun and her face seemed pulled back tightly as well. As she passed by she scowled and grumbled to herself. _

"_Hmph, new meat…" Isidore's eyes got wide when he heard those words slip out from her thin mouth. That was not something he ever wanted to cross paths with, he lowered his head once more and sulked into a corner. _

"_Ahem, move." A small girl told him sternly. She stood there with her arms crossed, and her eyes focused on the new boy. He looked up and almost laughed. She was so little, and well, adorable. Her hair was in long braids reaching her waist, her face was drenched in freckles, and she had the biggest dark brown eyes, but she looked so threatening at that moment it just seemed hard to take her seriously. _

"_I said move! That's where I sit." She barked at him. He wasn't intimidated at all, so  
Isidore just sat there and continued to think. _

"_Bad idea…" She mumbled to herself. Isidore looked up when he heard her say something but wished he hadn't. As soon as his head was up, Lucie swung her tiny fist strait in his eye. Isidore immediately told himself that it didn't hurt, wrong. His whole face began to throb and he could feel a bruise beginning to form, how could something so little do that with just one punch?! Isidore picked himself up and moved over a few feet to let her sit down. Lucie huffed, moved a loose strand of hair from her face, and plopped down in her corner. _

"_How'd you get here?" Lucie questioned him. _

And ever since Isidore had told her his story, they had been friends. They grew closer every passing day; Lucie was the only person who he could really trust. The only person he had really felt comfortable around and he knew that she really liked him for who he was and that she would never to anything to hurt him.

"Hey Is! Where'd ya go?" Lucie said while waving a hand in his face. Isidore broke out of his trance and smiled at his friend.

"No, you're the best." Lucie told him sweetly.

Author note- yes, there's another flash back. There will probably be quite a few in this story because the whole story comes from her past. Just a heads up, not really sure why it was needed but now you know! Thanks to my reviewers, I spiked the Ice Cream, Skitts girl, XxxEFreakxxX, xFlipperx, Water vs. Fire, and Snicker-of-Manhattan. You guys are great, I couldn't do this without you!!


	3. The time has come

AN- I'm working on making my chapters a bit more lengthy, normally I feel like they're long, but then I'm wrong! And I'm switching to writing from different character's P.O.V (Point of view) instead of sticking with the normal way of writing in 3rd person, but still writing in 3rd person… just roll with it! It may not make sense with my explaining it but it'll be synch once you start reading and see what I mean, it still is a tad interesting to me now too and I'm not sure how it'll work out, but what the hey! Have fun!

**Lucie's P.O.V**

Lucie stared gloomily out the gloomy window of the gloomy orphanage out at the gloomy streets of New York. _There has to be more than this! _ Echo told herself in frustration. Lucie turned her head slowly in response to the familiar 'clap' of the Mistress's bony hands.

"Come along miscreants! It's time for your weekly outing that the government forces us to give you!" She told the girls casually but with a hint of a grimace in her voice. _At least she's honest… _Lucie thought while pushing herself up from the corner.

_This is torture… _Lucie rolled her eyes in disgust. _If they hate us so much, why do they buy us these stupid uniforms to wear outside, we hardly ever get to bathe, it's not like they make us anymore presentable. _ Lucie squirmed in her oversized blue coat and dragged her feet behind the rest of the girls. Lucie thought this was about as bad as it could get, but then she heard a much too familiar voice jeering down to her.

"Lucille Quinlan! You better pick your dirty little feet up off the ground and catch up to the rest of us! Nobody wants to wait up for you and nobody ever will!" Victoria jabbed her skinny finger in her face.

"You're a filthy orphan just like the rest of us… and being a filthy brown-nosing orphan doesn't make you any better than the lot of us." Lucie grumbled in annoyance.

"Excuse me, maggot!" Victoria shot back at her.

"Oh nothing! I'll make sure to keep up!" Lucie said with biggest fake smile she could muster. _But just for that, Icky Vicky… _ Lucie jabbed her foot out in front of the girl and giggled happily to herself as Victoria's forehead smashed right into a tree. Lucie skipped forward to the front of the group with a grin plastered to her face.

Mistress Vandecrott stopped abruptly and sent the line of girls behind her skidding to a halt.

"Alright, you may roam freely now, be back in 10 minutes." As soon as the words left her sour mouth, the young girls scattered in all directions.

This mere ten minutes was about as close to feeling "free" as Lucie had ever felt while being at the orphanage. She wandered, swinging her hands back and forth, staring up at the trees… Then a sudden noise caught her attention. It sounded almost like a hiccup and a cough and breathe and jumbled into one. She picked up her pace and followed the sound which led her someone sobbing dramatically on a park bench. Lucie circled around the bench to face the girl and found that she looked to be no older than herself. The girl was probably about 6 or 7 inches taller than Lucie, on the pale side, and had dark wavy hair that was almost longer than Lucie's. The girl hiccupped once more and then shot her head up and immediately locked eyes with Lucie.

"What?!" the girl snapped at her. Lucie could only stare at her in confusion.

"Of course, you won't talk to me. No one in my whole family will talk to me!! It's all the same, every last one of you!" She choked out and threw a very expensive looking parasol on the ground next to her in frustration.

"umm… I'm, sorry?" Lucie said with raised eyebrows, not really knowing what to say.

"As you should be!" The girl shot while standing up to face Lucie. The orphan found that she had very large dark brown eyes, even though she was in quite a fuss, her eyes made her seem as sweet as anything.

"Everyone I know should be sorry! I could swear my mother hates me! She's always telling me what to do, and she never talks to me like I'm a person! Daddy always works and is never home, the only living thing that really cares about me is my cat! And now my mother has found some arrogant ninny to marry me off to!" She complained to Lucie.

Comforting people really wasn't Lucie's forte, nor was listening to other people's problems, or people crying… but there was just something about this girl in the park that took her for surprise. Something that made Lucie want to help.

"What's your name?" Lucie asked the girl. She looked back at her as if she was insane, like asking someone their name was a dastardly crime. But the look faded after a moment and she gave in.

"Angela, Angela Kennedy." She said before plopping back down on the bench and putting her head in her hands.

"Lucie." Lucie said to her, and then held her hand out in greeting. "And I think I can help you." She told her with a bit of a smirk.

"Excuse me?" Angela questioned with a cock of her brow.

"I think I can help you." Lucie repeated. But she was a bit skeptical of the idea herself, because she had only thought of it just before she had offered Angela her assistance.

"See, you could just-" but Lucie was quickly cut off by the shrill whistle of the end of her "free time"

"Just be back her next week at the same time, at this same exact spot! Ok?! I have to go!" Lucie told Angela in a bit of a panic, than dashed off in the direction she came, and left Angela sitting there, very confused.

Lucie skidded into the back of the line just in time, and began to walk back to the orphanage with everyone else. But as the got going her pace began to lag, she had one of the most brilliant ideas forming in head. As soon as they arrived back at the old building Lucie dashed inside and barged into the boy's room, not caring about the rules, she had to tell Isidore.

**Angela's P.O.V**

Angela sat there in a bit of a shock, and in confusion. Some ratty looking girl had just come up to here, offered help, gave her directions, and ran away. What a peculiar day.

Angela almost stumbled back to her house, nothing quite like that had ever happened, and she wasn't sure what to do about it.

As she walked into the house she was greeted by an incredibly fake smile from her mother who ushered her over to the den.

"Look honey, it's Carlton John Bernard the 3rd, here to visit you again. Don't you remember?" She told her daughter, then sat down and poured the man more tea. Angela noticed she had to force out the word "honey" but flopped down on the love seat anyway.

"Nice to meet you." Angela said to the man after picking up a cup of tea for herself and taking a sip.

"Angie, we've met before. Don't you remember? We've known each other for 3 months now." He told in a bit of an aggravated tone. Then he reached out and set his hand on hers. "We are to be married this October." He said, trying to be as sweet as possible. That's when Angie's eyes got wide, how could she have forgotten?! First she felt dumbfounded at her lack of remembrance, and then filled with absolute fury as she also remembered that she had no say in who she was marrying.

"MOTHER! I can't believe you! What if I don't want-" her mother quickly cut her off from saying anymore.

"Angela! Don't be rude!" her mother scolded her.

"Fine. I'm sorry Paul!" Angie shot in his direction.

"It's Carlton John Bernard the 3rd, thank you very much!" He corrected her while shooting up from his chair.

"What ever." Angela huffed. She then proceeded in marching out of the room and up the monstrous curving stair case to her room.

Angela wiped away tears as she slammed the door shut. She threw herself on to her bed and cursed her horrid life. That's when she decided that she had to do something. She scurried over to a large desk in the corner of her room, grabbed something to write on and a pen and looked at the clock. Angela wrote down the exact time and day she had been at the park and slipped the paper into purse. Angela needed a change, and she would do anything to get it.


	4. The plan

AN- SORRY! I'M SO SORRY! Trust me I wanted to get this done so much sooner! I know you're probably thinking it be pretty hard for a 13 year old to be so incredibly busy that she didn't even have time to write less than two pages worth of a chapter, but MY GOODNESS I WAS SOO BUSY! I just had 12 things going at once and it got crazy, if it wasn't for spring break you would probably have to wait a few more weeks! But even though this chapter is short, it's finally here, hope you enjoy!

p.s. I promise I'll get future chapters done sooner!

* * *

Lucie curled her fingers around Isidore's shirt and dragged him into a small hallway closet.

"Is, I got it! I have it!! I know how we're gonna get out of this flea ridden cage!" Lucie shouted at him practically in hysteria.

"Wait, what? What do you mean Lucie? We have to stay here!" Isidore replied.

"No we don't ! I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner! It's so easy, so simple! We can get out of this dump forever! No more mush for food, no more evil Mistress, we can be free!" Lucie shouted even louder, she was getting incredibly excited.

"What do mean? What are you talking about?!" Isidore yelled back at her, he had his hand on her shoulders and was attempting to shake the answer out of her.

"We run. We run away. It's so easy, it's not like they care about us anyway! The only reason they don't kill us off is because of the, _government." _ Lucie looked like the perfect psycho right now, she had the goofiest grin on her face, her eyes were wild, and she was beginning to sway back forth.

"You're insane. We can't run away, do you know what they would do to us if we got caught!" Isidore threw his hands up, just thinking about what could happen made him scared.

"That's why we're not going to get caught! We'll… we'll go at night!" Lucie began nodding her head vigorously trying to convince both of them that the plan would work.

"Yeah, ok. So where would we go if we did get away. Did you even think about that? This hell hole is still a heck of a lot better than living in the streets; we wouldn't be able to survive out there!" he ran his hands threw his hair in frustration.

"I wasn't sure about that either! But when we were coming back from the park, a newsie tried to sell me a paper. And it hit me! We'll become newsies; we'll live in a lodging house and make money! We can make friends, and be free! Isidore we can be free!" Lucie grabbed his shoulders and shot her face right in front of his.

"Just think about it, freedom! Sure it won't be easy, but we won't be ordered around, we can do what we want! And it'll just be you and me, no one to get in our way, no one to smack us just for talking to each other" Lucie was begging him just to give it a chance.

Isidore looked at her, he saw the look in her eyes, and the excitement in her voice. He couldn't even stand to think about how she would feel if he didn't give the plan a chance. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. And when he opened them he began to nod his head. Lucie practically screamed with joy, she threw her arms around him and started to explain the details.

"We have to be extra careful for the next week, we need to find out when everyone goes to sleep, whether they lock the windows, the best way to get out of the building, everything."

"It shouldn't take a whole week though." Isidore stated, confused.

"We just need a week ok? I have something I need to do before we go." Lucie told him, trying to avoid telling him about what had happened at the park.

"Thank you Is! Thank you! I promise you this'll work!" Lucie hugged him again, then shot out of the closet without another word.

_What have I done… _Isidore slumped against the wall and let his head fall in hands.

* * *

AN- ok, this chapter was kind of a given, but it had to be done. And sorry it was so short too, I just wanted it to be focused on this one thing and it wouldn't have been good to stretch it out much more. Thanks to my reviewers **I spiked the ice cream, skitts girl, water vs. fire, DramaLo, XxxEfreakxxX, Snicker of Manhattan, and xFlipperx. ** You guys really keep me going!


	5. The Escape

Chapter 5: THE ESCAPE

AN- Sorry it took me so long, but I just have so much going on, and it's finally summer! So here I go! And by the way, I'm still having issues on how to write the story, ya know 1st person, 3rd person, the P.O.V's and junk, I've never been good at it, in fact teachers almost always talk to me about it when I turn in papers… so try to keep up and don't get too confused, I'll work on it!

Lucie ran from her place in the line of girls, full speed. Her head was nearly bursting with excitement; she couldn't wait to spread her genius to yet another person.

"Excuse me?" Angela practically shouted at the girl. "You can't be serious." She stated flatly.

"Why wouldn't I be serious? I'm dead serious" Lucie really did shout back.

"And what do you presume we do once we run away? Hmmm?" She tapped her fingers on the bench agitatedly.

"Have you ever bought a paper before?"

"Of course"

The dirty, scrappy orphan girl opened her arms, widened her eyes, raised her eyebrows and leaned closer to the fresh, high class rich girl, almost screaming "DUH!"

Angela looked closed to fainting, blinked the shock out of her face, and stood up in defiance.

"No. Absolutely, 100% No." She crossed her arms and was about to turn away when…

"But! Just think of it! You could be free, live _your _life the way _you_ want to. No one to tell you what to do or to boss you around. You could have real friends, travel to new places, be with people who actually care about you…" Lucie was beginning to drift off into her own little fantasy just thinking about it.

"Well… even so… what about all my stuff? You don't expect me to dress like _that_, do you?"

"Well, you'd have to bring it down a little, but pack a suit case or somethin'! I guess there's not too much wrong with being "frilly" every now then…" Lucie told her with a slight air of disgust. Angela only rolled her eyes and huffed. But began to contemplate, this stranger did make a point… Angela bit at her lip and let out a small nervous giggle _It couldn't be that bad, could it? _

"I'll think about it" Angela whispered, still deep in thought. Lucie nodded, they shook hands, and that was that.

The orphan girl lay silent and still on her thin, squeaky cot, waiting. She saw the light in the kitchen go out, out of the corner of her eye, it was finally time. Her toes gently pressed into the old floor boards, then her heel, followed by her other foot, she cringed, anticipating a nice loud creak. Nothing. Silence. Relief. Lucie crept from the back of the room to the front, repeating the first sequence with every step. One foot, then the other… Nothing. Silence. Relief.

Lucie and Isidore quietly shut the opposite doors of their rooms at the exact same moment. They both let out a small sigh and smiled at each other.

"You got the stuff?" Lucille could barely even hear herself speak. Isidore only nodded in response and then lead the way to the biggest window in the building. It seemed to take hours for him to open it but as they looked down at the world, they knew it was well worth their escape.

The pair carefully scaled down the wall, using the vines of ivy for support, Isidore went first to make sure it was "safe" for his friend.

"It'll be fine, now just go!" she almost pushed him out the window. She was 5 feet above the ground when she lost her grip and hit the cold dirt with a thud, he rushed to her side and lifted her head, only to reveal the face of a very amused, laughing little girl.

"Gotcha." Lucille snickered in delight. Isidore smacked her arm and scolded her.

"What's wrong with you? How can joke at a time like this?" He hissed at her.

"For someone who's always trying to protect me, you sure do hit hard." Lucie rubbed her arm and stuck her tongue out, just for emphasis.

The two of them soon stood in the flickering of the New York street lights, looking cold, confused, and downright overjoyed.

"Alright, gimme the old clothes" Lucie stuck out her hands, and Isidore handed them over.

"Why do need these anyway? You already have something to wear, what's wrong with what you've got?" Isidore questioned with his back turned to her.

"For one, they were given to me by the orphanage" she said after slipping on the knickers "Which you know I hate" Lucie continued while tucking in her shirt "and second, you also know I hate dresses" she told him while tying her boots "do you know how good it feels to finally wear pants again!" she said just a bit too loud. Isidore shushed her and helped her get her suspenders strait.

"And now, for the final touch" he pulled out a hat and snugged it securely over her eyes and let out a small chuckle "There." Lucie pulled it up and adjusted it to her liking; she gave herself a once over and looked at him for his opinion.

"Even though I had those when I was eight years old, and their still huge on you… I believe you look rather dashing Madame! No silly head mistress can tell you what to wear!" He showed the bright white of his teeth to all of Manhattan, and held out his arm to her. She bowed low and continued to accept it. They smiled once more at each other and trotted down the streets to their new home.

The long walk was full of talking and hushed laughter, there was a scare at the sound of a stone or a creaking window now and then, but it was always quelled by the overall cheeriness of the mood. But the thought of what they were doing seemed a much better thing than the reality.

Lucie skidded to a halt in the front of the Newsboys Lodging House and stared at the enormous sign that had quickly grasped her sight. Even though the place was somewhat small, and smushed between so many other buildings, the young girl still knew it was the biggest change she'd had in her life for a long time. She could see her future unfolding in a matter of minutes, standing in the dark, staring into a dark building, leaving her dark past behind. This was her new home, her new life, but it was all hers, it was all hers for the taking. Lucie tightened her grip on one of her most prized possessions in the world, and smiled a most genuine smile. _My time has finally come, and I'm damn ready for it. _She thought to herself with a smirk, she looked up at her best friend and took one of the most important steps of her life.

The print on the glass of the door was worn and scratched, the knob was rusted and old, and there was nothing they could do to not make it creak and rattle with its opening. There was no one in the main entry way and Lucie looked around cautiously. She tip-toed up the to desk and lightly tapped the bell.

"SHHHH!" the hand that accompanied the voice was on hers before she could even gasp in surprise, but that didn't stop her.

"I said, SHHHH!" The old man had quickly popped up behind the desk as soon as her heard the noise. He was simple, grey hair, hat, glasses, weathered skin, pure honest eyes.

"I got a, a lot a boys up there, and they need all, all, all the sleep they need." He scolded her with a shake of his bony finger "They already grumpy enough in the morning" he huffed to himself.

"Ummm who are?" Isidore inquired with a tilt of his head.

"No, the big, big question is, who are you?" He replied while leaning over the desk. "I haven't seen either a you two around this, this neck a the woods befoah."

"We need to stay here, ya know, be newsies." Lucie told him with a shrug of her shoulders. The old man held out his hand and her eyes widened. "Oh yeah" she rummaged through her pockets and produced a lint covered nickel and set in his shaky hand.

"Alright, you got a month in the bag you two, just sign ya names heah and go upstairs, but be quiet about it! Just find a bunk and close ya eyes." He slid a large book and a pencil in their direction and continued rummaging under the desk.

"What's with all these names? There isn't a single, _real_ one in the bunch!" Lucie shot at Isidore as they read the list of other residents.

_Cowboy _

_Skittery_

_Bumlets_

_Snitch_

_Mush_

_Itey_

_Kid Blink_

_Specs_

_Dutchy… _

"Weird…" Isidore mumbled to himself "Well I guess we'd be a bit goofy if we put down Lucille and Isidore, I guess when we changed our lives, that included our names" He sighed and crouched over the book in concentration, he didn't want to be branded with something embarrassing. He pulled out his knife and stared at its smooth edge in contemplation. After a few minutes of silence, Lucie's eyes lit up. She scribbled in the book and smiled to herself.

_Echo _

Isidore looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"You have to be loud to make an echo" Isidore nodded in agreement "and they go on for a long time, and they're repetitive." Lucie explained her reasoning to him.

"It suits you perfectly" He said with a shake of his head and a clever smile. He rubbed his eyes and snapped his pocket knife shut he looked hard at the book, the pencil, and then his pocked. He wrote in clean, large letters.

_Switchblade _

They were about to go up the stairs when the man popped back up again.

"Wait, youse a goil." He stated blatantly.

"And it took ya this long ta notice?" Lucie shot at him in a very offended tone. He looked her up and down, scratched his chin and let out a sigh.

"Ya know, you look like a good kid, just don't go causin' any drama wid dem boys, you can't get away with _everything_ here, got it?" Lucie nodded her head, she definitely wasn't _that_ kind of girl. "And by the way, the name's Kloppman, good night."

They crept up the stairs as quietly as possible and peered in the large bedroom at the top of the steps. It was too dark to see much other than the rows of bunk beds and the silhouettes of snoring, teenage boys.

They weren't too many open beds so they had to sleep on opposite sides of the room, Isidore got the empty bottom of a bunk, and Lucie took the top of one that already had a snoozing occupant. She settled into the even thinner mattress and papery sheet, she nuzzled her head into the small pillow, and no matter how uncomfortable it really was, she couldn't help but think that is was the most heavenly place she'd ever been.

"Goodnight Switchblade."

"Goodnight Echo."


	6. Welcome Home

Chapter 6

Echo awoke to Kloppman yelling loudly in her ear. She opened her eyes just a crack, trying to see if everything she had done last night had really happened. The place looked almost exactly the same as the orphanage, old, worn out, and rickety. There was just one major difference she noticed right away. Normally she would be in a room full of girls, and normally they wouldn't all be staring at her. The words, _just act like you belong, _passed through her mind before she hopped out of bed.

"Hey boys! Let's go sell some of those papers!" Echo shrilled, awkwardly patting one of them on the shoulder. So she wasn't the best actress, but it would help if she even knew how to act around these people.

"Now listen boys, just treat her like one, one of your own. You'll all be, be, be fine, just as long as there's no funny business. Mush!" Kloppman told all the boys, pointing an accusing finger at the boy he referred to as Mush. Kloppman shuffled back down the stairs and the guys slowly began to go about their morning routine.

Echo went to the large sinks but couldn't even concentrate enough to wash her face; none of the guys would come within a seven foot radius of her.

"Very welcoming here, huh?" Switch whispered in Echo's ear.

"Yeah, what am I even supposed to do around them?"

"Just be yourself."

"Because that works so well."

"You got me, remember?"

"Yeah, just you! That's it! I'm not what you would call 'good' at making friends. I actually want to make a good impression; I want to be happy here!"

"And you will if you just act normal. You won't if you have to fake it all the time."

"Alright, if you really think so…" Echo sighed slowly, then sucked in a large breath "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL LOOKING AT, HUH?!" Echo bellowed, taking a threatening step toward the boy closest to her. He hobbled on his crutch and almost lost his balance but the guy wearing a red bandana around his neck caught him.

"This could work out after all." The same boy said, sauntering over to Echo and extending his hand, "Name's Jack, welcome to the force."

"Took long enough." Echo told him, rolling her eyes. She sighed again though and slapped her hand into his, right before spitting in it of course. She had seen newspaper boys do it countless times and it surprised her how much it made her feel like she belonged.

"Alright let me introduce you to the boys! We've got Racetrack, Kid Blink, Skittery, Bumlets, Boots, Swifty, Pie Eater, Itey, Snoddy, Dutchy, Specs, that's Snitch, over there is Crutchy, and this here is Mush." Jack informed me, each boy offered a grunt or wave in response to his name, all that is, except Mush.

"Very pleased to meet 'cha!" He said, laughing hysterically and coming just a little too close.

"Lay off her Mush! Alright, you ready for your first day?" Jack asked Echo. She could only think of one possible response.

"Hell yeah."

"Told you so." Switch whispered in her ear.

"Is this what it's like every day for you guys?!" Echo asked, throwing back the last of her water.

"No, normally is worse!" Skittery chimed in.

"I don't care, I could get use to this."

"Only you would think this is fun!" Switch Blade yelled at her.

"Why wouldn't it be?! I'm free, we're free! I have a real home and real friends and I can eat real food. Do you know how long it's been since I've eaten somethin' that wasn't the color grey? Admit it, you like this too Switch." Echo asked her friend.

"Alright, alright," Switch Blade said exasperated, "it's great!"

"That's right it is!" Racetrack exclaimed, pounding his fist on the table. Everyone in the dinky restaurant cheered along with him.

"A toast," Kid Blink began, standing on his chair and raising his glass to the ceiling, "to our new, newsies!" This again was followed by the thunder of twenty newsies clapping wildly and stomping their feet. Echo and Switch looked over at each other at the same time, and smiled.


End file.
